Chapter 15

What's Up With Lily Evans and James Potter?

James and Lily were very proud of their ability to keep their big secret a secret. Secrecy was hard to come by in Hogwarts, where the rumor mill was fast and spun wildly out of control. But so far they seemed to have fared pretty well. Although unbeknownst to them there was a lot of talk in the weeks leading u to Christmas break.

They tried really hard to hide their feelings or lack thereof if you asked Lily. But sometimes a change is so unexpected you can't help but notice it. Their friends kept quiet for the most part but they had their own suspicions. Sirius more so than others. Though he kept his word and worked to help James out of his dilemma. The day after they made their plan they set it into action.

James was sitting on the risers in the stands after bludger practice watching his seeker practice feinting.

"Hey Gryffindor what's going on?" Soaryn said sweetly as she sat down beside of him.

"Hey gorgeous. Are you here to spy for your house or just to say hey?" he said sweetly.

She laughed and flipped her hair. The sunlight that bounced off of it was attractive enough to practically beacon Sirius over on its own. James never would have thought he would be practically throwing possibly the most beautiful girl he had the potential to date at his, self proclaimed ladies man, best friend. Sirius walked over calmly with a huge smile on his face.

"Well aren't you the pettiest Ravenclaw of the bunch." He said sitting down on her other side.

James fought the urge to smack his friend for hitting on the girl he had been talking to for weeks. He had to remind himself that this was the only way to actually get Lily, this was the easiest way to do it and not hurt Soaryn's feelings. He didn't want her to feel second best, this was the only way around it. He really couldn't have them both.

He watched as her fair face flushed and she muttered in return.

"Thank you Sirius, you aren't so bad yourself, for a Gryffindor that is."

James laughed while Sirius stepped up his game.

"Yeah, well why don't you come for a walk with me, this prat is no fun, I can show you a good time."

She looked nervously over at James, his friend was obviously hitting on her and he wasn't even phased, in fact he smiled before standing up.

"I have to get back to the pitch, and clear up the equipment. You are free to go Siri, I can get this." He said taking two steps down.

"Great! Come on Soaryn, you don't mind me stealing your girl, do you Jamie?"

Soaryn blushed and looked imploringly at James.

He smiled and shrugged.

"We aren't dating Sirius, she is free to walk with whom she chooses. As beautiful as she may be. See you both later." He said taking of in a jog to middle pitch, finding a reason to help his seeker.

oOoOoO

Over the next week James made certain to be too busy at any given time to see Soaryn without Sirius present. Sirius however had suddenly found lots of time, seeing as James had done his homework for him on three different occasions. James watched as they met in the halls and walked to classes that were close to each other, he saw her blush when he would twirl her hair on his finger, or carry her bag. In short he watched Sirius do what Sirius did best, completely overwhelm the opposite sex. He had never been able to reduce a girl to mush like that.

And even though he didn't have tons of extra time right now, he was often found in the common room goofing off with the other 6 sixth years. This is when the rest of Hogwarts began to talk.

James was seen by his entire house tickling her to the point of tears. After which she leaned back into his shoulder and resumed reading their History assignment.

During the last defense class she had been flung into a wall by Remus on accident and she had let James pull her up and he had kissed the back of her head where she hit it and said "All better?" and instead of flipping out, she had laughed and nodded her head.

They were both spotted walking alone in the halls and talking animatedy wearing smiles that, until recently, were rarely seen on either of their faces in each other's presence.

Tonight James was sitting on the floor with books spread in front of him (a rare enough sight as it was) Remus and Peter were across from him, Remus reading, and Pete fiddling with James' snitch. It kept getting away and he would have to summon it back to himself. Alice was sitting on the floor next to James, writing a letter to Frank and Lily was sitting on the chair that James was leaning back against. She was reading but as Remus looked up he noticed that she was idly twirling the hair at the crown of James/ head. He smirked slightly but said nothing about it, instead he addressed James.

"Where is Sirius?" he asked

James didn't look up, immersed in his and the forementioned's charms homework.

"Mmmmm I think he was going to take Soaryn to the kitchens and ask her to go to Hogsmede with him." He said, as if it was every day that he and Sirius traded off girlfriends.

Lily's hand went still in his hair and everyone stopped what they were doing to look at him in shock.

"What?" he said, realizing everyone was staring at him.

"I am confused. I thought you were dating her?" Alice replied.

"Last time Sirius took your girl we all ended up in the hospital wing. How are you ok with this She is hot." Remus said bluntly, almost forgetting that the girls were there with him.

"Remember when he asked Lily out and you didn't talk to him for 3 weeks in third year?" Peter said.

James blushed and fidgeted with the quill in front of him.

"That was different. I am not nor have I ever, dated Soaryn." James said as if that explained everything.

"I hate to break it to you mate, but you never dated Lily either."

"Thanks for that Pete." James replied as his face went even redder than it was. "And believe me, it isn't for lack of trying.

Remus watched Lily bite the inside of her lip while Peter and Alice laughed at James. She looked confused and took her hand back and began to read again.

"So, Sirius likes Soaryn?" Remus asked.

"I think so, he says he does. He thinks she is hot I guess. He is right she is gorgeous, and funny. But I think she would be better with Sirius. He suits her more. They are a lot alike. I think he is seeing that. I was certainly seeing that, it was like talking to Sirius but I found her incredibly attractive." He said, jumping as Sirius came pelting through the portrait hole.

"It's off. The deal, its off." He said gasping for air and clutching his side.

The statement made James forget that he was surrounded by people that weren't supposed to know what was going on.

"What. What do you mean? Why?" he spluttered.

"Soaryn is going with me tomorrow. And…Now don't be mad…I kissed her Prongs…And I really really like her, I think she likes me. Please don't hit me. I know, I know this wasn't supposed to happen I mean…" Sirius looked away from James' eyes and noticed for the first time that they were surrounded by at least 20 Gryffindors.

"Uhm, maybe we should go somewhere private to talk about this?" Sirius said, making James realize that they were in fact not alone.

"I…I don't know what to say." James said honestly.

"Well get up and come on, you can say what ever you want, just don't bloody hit me." Sirius said as he leaned down grabbed his best friend by the robes and drug him out of the common room.

"Shit we are screwed Remmy." Peter said dully.

Remus nodded his head.

"Yes, for all Prongs says to the contrary. He does not share well with others. And he and Sirius have quite the competitive rivalry when it comes to who can get the best girl. Soaryn might be up there with them. We are going to end up in a prank war and in detention for a week."

OoO

To everyone's surprise the prank war never happened. James and Sirius never spent any amount of time hating one another or fighting and Sirius never appeared to have a bruise.

The Hogsmede trip went over better than any of them, including James and Sirius could have hoped. James was right, Sirius and Soaryn seemed made for one another. She was so smart she always had a witty comeback to his rants and cocky statements but she was fun. And she was not shy one bit.

Pete had to complete a remedial potions class today so he was not able to come to town with the boys. Hestia was on a date with a hufflepuff by the name of Something Bones. Frank had showed up, and met Alice so they could spend the day together, leaving Lily, and Maureen with James and Remus.

"So ladies, what would you like to do?" James asked, excited to be spending a day outside of school with Lily Evans. He was completely unaware of the titters of the students as he got into the carriage with her and their two friends.

"Wherever, as long as it isn't the Shrieking Shack, that place scares me." Maureen said with a shiver.

James laughed and Remus scowled.

"Right, well I was thinking more along the lines of the apothecary, since Sirius stole the last of my supplies to make his hair tonic for today." James replied.

The girls giggled as Remus smiled.

"I am impressed Prongs, you are being completely grown up about him stealing your girl. You didn't even get angry about it."

He watched James blush and glance at Lily briefly.

"She wasn't mine to be stolen. I liked her, she was fun. But I don't love her or anything, I just think she is bloody gorgeous. But, and if you tell him this I will slaughter you all, I think Sirius is falling hard for her."

"Sirius Black never falls for girls. He shags them for two minutes and then leaves them in a pile of tears." Maureen said boldly.

Lily nodded with a frown.

"She is right, we live in the girls dorm, we use the girl's bathroom. We hear all about the love life of Sirius Black and James Potter." She said softly.

James blushed and wiggled uncomfortably in his seat.

"James when you shagged Kaiya in fifth year it was all we heard about. Everyone assumed you agreed since she was a year older than you and all. We heard enough about you and how you, well you know, that we might as well have done you ourselves." Alice said laughing.

Remus noticed that Lily was staring out of the window looking distressed.

"I'm sorry." James said quietly, causing Alice to laugh harder.

"Why are you apologizing to them for your girlfriend telling about your sex life, That is hardly your fault you git. And as for Sirius, I think this is the first time he has actually cared about the girl he was with. Incidentally though, what was the deal that he broke?" Remus said.

James stiffened and both girls looked up at him in interest.

"We er, well we were going to do something here in town and now that he is with her we erm can't…?" he said it almost like a question.

Remus knew his friend well enough to know he was not telling the whole story. The girls just looked slightly suspicious.

"Vous êtes allongé James Potter" Remus said quietly.

James' eyes flew from the window to his friend's face as the carriage rolled to a stop. He knew, that, even above Sirius, Remus knew him the best. He saw things that no one else saw. If anyone was going to discover his secret, it would be Remus. He was too perceptive for his own good. He wondered how long it would be until Remus knew the truth, he was certain in that moment that he at the very least suspected something.

They all stepped out of the carriage into the sleepy little frozen town. James saw Lily shiver and he desperately wished he could wrap his arms around her to keep her warm. But he knew that would only make his situation worse. He didn't need Lily mad at him on top of everything else.

The foursome had a great morning going between Honeydukes for candy and sweets, messing about in Zonko's where the girls rolled their eyes when the boys spent about 6 Galleons in there. Alice and Lily were even nice enough to let James go into the Quidditch Supply Store and ogle the newest Nimbus line out. It had just released that week and when the store clerk let the Gryffindor team captain hold the Nimbus 1000 he actually couldn't speak.

They ended up in the Three Broomsticks around lunchtime and happened to run into Sirius and Soaryn who were pink faced from the cold, but smiling brilliantly. They both seemed a little bit nervous to be sitting at the table holding hands with James sitting across from them. But James was too busy attempting to braid Lily's hair to pay much attention to them.

They all watched in awe as he wound the strand into an impossible knot and Lily just smiled at him while he struggled, his tongue sticking out slightly in concentration.

The group separated again after lunch and Maureen and Remus decided to head back early together so they could get started on packing for the Christmas holiday. James really wanted to walk so Lily obliged, saying that she would stay back as Gryffindor prefect to be sure everyone headed back.

They didn't notice Sirius and Soaryn when James took Lily by the shoulders and pulled her against him to warm her up. Lily smiled and pulled back after a moment, but never took her hand from his. They walked obliviously past the pair that were sitting shocked on a bench, secluded from the sight of passersby.

That day did nothing to stop the whispers about James and Lily. And though James actually noticed that they might need to be more careful, he couldn't find it in himself to care. Maybe, just maybe if everyone found out on their own Lily would agree to actually date him and she would see that they would be alright. Either way, it was too late for James, he was already lost to Lily Evans. He knew it now, when he thought about Sirius and how he talked about Soaryn. He was far past the crush, lust, like you stage. He was irrevocably in love with Lily.

Trying to hide it now that he knew it was the challenge.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Vous êtes allongé James Potter. -You are lying James Potter.